37% of apps removed from the Android Market

Er, that headline is perhaps a tad misleading, in that it possibly sounds like the Android Market has had one incredibly thorough clear-out. Au contraire, 37% of apps have been removed in the Market’s lifetime.

In any case, since the Android Market has published over 500,000 apps in total, the aforementioned percentage means a whopping 180,000+ have been removed for whatever reason. Cripes.

Apple, meanwhile, has binned a still significant 24% of apps during its various clear-outs. As research2guidance notes, that figure is probably less than the Android Market’s since Apple has stricter quality control, making it more difficult to get an app published in the first place.

At the opposite end of the scale, 87% of Windows Phone apps remain in place, though it’s not clear how much time Ballmer & Co have dedicated to Spring cleaning.

The Android Market was tipped to surpass Apple’s App Store in terms of quantity (which is obviously a whole different ball game from quality) this year. However, in Q3, the number of active mobile apps on the Android Market weighed in at 319,161, compared to 459,589 on Apple’s App store.